African/Black Atheists and Believers

Information

The purpose of this group is to explore, debate, and share how various religions have impacted African/Black communities throughout the world. Membership is not limited to African/Black atheists or believers.

Emily Brennan, Assistant Director, Columbia University Institute forReligion, Culture, and Public Life seeks to interview African-Americanatheists for publication, hopefully in the New York Times.…Continue

Tuesday, September 28, 6:30 pmCramton Auditorium, Howard University, Washington, DCFaith has traditionally played a significant role among African Americans, while science has been marginalized. It…Continue

Just wanted to say hello as a newbie and curious how many people are in the NY area and are there any black atheist social groups etc. if not It would be nice to hear how you all are doing and dealing with being a minority of an minority. I am the only black Atheist I personally know lol! so it would be nice to meet or at least chat with others. How do you deal? where do we meet? Is there a committee or some sort and is Neil Degrause Tyson our leader? Lmao!!

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I’ll start a new thread list in which links and other resources can be added. When we get enough, I’ll try to compile it all into a document that can be downloaded and shared.

I, for my part, am fairly adept at deciphering other people's code, and thus have my suspicions as to what this is all about. But on another note: I don't know that this group has any special purpose distinct from the many other black freethought groups, blogs, web sites, and organizations that have been set up in the past year and a half. A list of resources is always useful.

Hi everyone. I’ve sorta been missing in action on this board. I started this group, but I have been off and doing other things. Now that I come back here, I’m wondering what should be the purpose of this group?

I wrote a general purpose for the group, but I'm thinking we need something more specific—a reason for members to visit the group and keep tabs on what’s going on.

Is there some objective or project that this group could work on? Is there something we could be doing to reach out to African/African American believers who are questioning religion and their belief in a god?

Might, for example, would it be a good idea to build a list of all the blogs and YouTube videos that have been produced by African American atheists? This might be a useful resource for African Americans who seeking resources that could help them with their questions about religion and god.

Being around atheists is not a novelty. Being around black atheists may be, but in the late 1980s there were some black atheists in the local chapter of American Atheists, including the leader. Back in those days, American Atheists seemed to attract a number of social misfits, and in this respect, I think there has been a shift. I managed to avoid a number of irritations in my 20s because outside of the wrokplace I was mostly around artists, hippies, etc., and while many of them were into a lot of crackpot belief systems, there was no visible Christian presence. However, I couldn't avoid the Bible-humpers forever. Also, atheism is only a tiny part of intellectual life, and I've always concentrated on developing other aspects of my world view instead of rehashing the same old shit. So I view atheism as a teeny tiny thing, but I realize I've underestimated, even at this late date, the damage that has been done to others. As for the growth of black atheism, I have no data to indicate whether atheism is on the rise of the black community; I think rather that the Internet has given people an opportunity to emerge from isolation in a way that was not possible before.

I'm trying to remember the number of black atheists, or at least the religiously indifferent, I've been with in one room at the same time, prior to this occasion. In many cases I would have had no way of knowing, but on occasions where I might be conscious of such things, I'm guessing the answer would be 10 at a time tops.

I've known Norm for over 20 years, but haven't seen him in several. I'm guessing people get over being impressed with me before too long. Yes, it's great being around black atheists for specific reasons, but I tend to be frustrated eventually no matter what company I keep, because I think an adequate perspective on the world demands so much more. But I am reminded that this society is even more backward and barbaric than even I think it is, and of how much effort it takes to develop even a little sophistication. But yeah, I enjoyed the company of the folks I met, old and new. No complaints there.